Fulbright Opportunities for U.S. Faculty, Professional Staff, and Pending PhDs

Professor Alicia Volk rubbing the head of a bull statue (to bring intelligence and academic success) at the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine, dedicated to scholars and scholarship, in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan.

The original and best known of the Fulbright programs is the Fulbright Scholars Program. This program is “the U.S. government’s flagship international exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 310,000 participants from over 155 countries with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research, to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.”

The Fulbright Scholars Program offers U.S. higher education faculty and administrators, and professionals in a variety of other fields, grants to teach or do research—or both—or to participate in seminars or consultancies of shorter duration. Explore the online catalogue of awards.

Explore the possibilities:

The Fulbright Specialist Program is designed to provide short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) for U.S. faculty and professionals. Shorter grant lengths give specialists greater flexibility to pursue a grant that works best with their current academic or professional commitments.

NEW! The Fulbright Flex Awards welcomes applications from scholars who propose multiple stays of one to three months in the host country over a period of two to three years.

NEW! TheFulbright Postdoctoral Scholar Awards is eager to engage postdoctoral and early career academics, offering opportunities in a range of countries and fields. These awards present an excellent opportunity for recently minted scholars to deepen their expertise, to acquire new skills, to work with additional resources, and to make connections with others in their fields.

Awards in the Fulbright Distinguished Chair Program are viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program. Candidates should be senior scholars and have a significant publication and teaching record.

Seminars in the Fulbright International Education Administrators Seminar are designed to introduce participants to the society, culture, and higher education systems in Germany, India, Japan, or Korea through campus visits, meetings with foreign colleagues and government officials, attendance at cultural events, and briefings on education. Participants gain new perspective on the need to internationalize U.S. campuses and insight into how it can be done.

Participants of the Fulbright German Studies Seminar will examine the political, social, and economic institutions of Germany. Each seminar has a specific thematic focus. The program will begin in Berlin and include visits to other cities in eastern and western Germany.

The Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program sends select U.S. primary and secondary school teachers abroad for three to six months. Teachers pursue individual projects, conduct research, take courses for professional development, and lead master classes or seminars for teachers and students.

Fulbright-Hays Programs awards grants to individual U.S. K-14 pre-teachers, teachers and administrators, pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral faculty, as well as to U.S. institutions and organizations. Funding supports research and training efforts overseas, which focus on non-Western foreign languages and area studies.

The Fulbright Regional Network for Applied Research (NEXUS) Program is a network of junior scholars, professionals, and mid-career applied researchers from the United States and other Western Hemisphere nations participating in a year-long program that includes multi-disciplinary, team-based research, a series of three seminar meetings, and a Fulbright exchange experience.

NOTE: If you work at UMD and want to apply for a Fulbright or other international award/opportunity, first talk to your program head or supervisor to get permission for the absence from campus. If you are a full-time administrator and your job duties do not explicitly include international travel, you should generally expect to have to use personal/annual leave to account for your absence.